How to get feedback from younger consumers
Younger consumers definitely have opinions about their brand experiences. They also share them! Look at some of the social media feeds out there! But younger consumers can also be picky on how they want to give feedback.
Most consumers – young or old – don’t give feedback at all. They move on with their day. They might tell a friend or colleague when they had an unbelievably good or bad experience. So it’s even more important to be able to connect with those consumers who want to give feedback! Today, that also includes the younger generations.
And those generations are growing. More than half of Americans are now Millennials or younger. As the spending power and influence of these younger consumers continues to rise, so does their importance in market research.
Market researchers can close the reach this influential group by making the process easy. What I just told you
Read next: What market researchers need to know about Gen Z!
Reach younger consumers where they are
Many young consumers don’t know a life without a continuous internet connection. Most of Generation Z can’t even remember life without social media. Over 91 percent of Gen Z already having a digital footprint and 98 percent own a smartphone. So pretty much everyone.
With Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram, young people share their lives on the web already. They are used to bite-size pieces of information and like to express themselves the same way. Short, snappy audiovisual content, such as self-recorded videos, are a great way to engage them.
Young consumers record selfie videos all the time
Self-recorded video is growing in popularity. Video creation and storytelling is everywhere. TikTok and Instagram Reel dances are common among younger consumers. Everyone can and does now share their story, from anywhere in the world from their phones. There’s even an Instagram account called “Influencers in the Wild” now that chronicles people taking videos of themselves.
In recent years, platforms such as Voxpopme have been able to leverage this shift in communication habits to benefit market research. We’ve added structure to the way video feedback can be captured, analyzed and shared within companies.
Moreover, online video editor tools make the experience more fun and creative for them — further propelling this trend. They get to easily enhance or add their unique, creative spin to their self-recorded videos before posting them online. So, since the video editing process isn’t exclusive to professionals as it used to be, videos have become a popular medium for young consumers to express themselves.
Read next: All participants shared their feedback via selfie video in this Black Friday study
Make communications fun for younger consumers
Young people today love to share their lives on the web. They are confident using video. Millions of people use Snapchat and Instagram Stories daily. This self-recorded video style has lent itself to more structured communication between consumers and brands, with businesses now putting video feedback questions at the heart of their market research, providing a fun and engaging way for young people to take part.
After all, it’s fun to self-record a short video recounting an experience or expressing what they think about a product and why. Especially when the alternative is a long survey or a 30-minute face-to-face interview in a specific location.
With the options provided by video insight platforms, there’s a type of video that appeals to everyone, that can be recorded in their preferred environment, on their terms.
Consumers can capture selfie-style content during in-store shop-alongs, share experience-based feedback videos at events, test products, and complete diary studies from home or even share concept feedback in a variety of locations.
Agile video feedback offers a wider range of fun and engaging ways for young people to get involved in research and share their thoughts. It’s convenient.
Incentivize them
People – and that includes younger consumers – want to be incentivized for their time and input. That’s why we pay participants in our online communities for their video survey responses.
Don’t waste their time
Younger consumers have grown up with technology and high-speed internet, and as a result, they expect things to work right now. This generation shares and receives information instantly – and they can lose interest just as fast too. That can mean they have no time for lengthy surveys.
Survey fatigue is a real and growing challenge in the market research industry. If other generations are struggling to complete exhaustive 30-plus question surveys, you’ve got even less of a chance of young people doing so.
Read next: How to help your consumers overcome survey fatigue
Lengthy surveys are built with good intentions, but in reality, they are pretty restrictive. The effort required to type out and edit complex feelings can result in responses of just three or four words and little or no storytelling.
But, video open-ends offer a quick and easy way for people to express themselves and share their opinions beyond the confines of their keyboard. It fits in around busy lives and allows customers to record anytime, anywhere, from their preferred digital device – so they can share in-depth stories easily.
Once transcribed, a typical video response gives an average of 460 character responses with a typical word count of 75. Video delivers six times more content and 65 percent more themes compared to text-based responses.
Instead of scrolling through a survey and endlessly selecting options, or typing out long answers, video lets your customers get to the point, and fast – making it perfect for Millennials who want instant communication at their fingertips.
Many go a step further, seeking out on-demand video feedback communities so they can express themselves to more brands, about the products and services they care about most.
Empower consumers
Video market research can empower younger consumers. They can express themselves and ensures they feel heard by you. Consumers also often say more on video than they would have typed out in response to an open-ended question.
Your customers need to believe their feedback makes a difference. Otherwise, why does it even matter? Video surveys make people feel like they are more than data. And it’s much more personal too. By allowing your customers to portray emotion and express both their body language and facial expressions, video adds a human aspect to communication – making young people more engaged, empowered, and willing to express themselves.
Read next: How market research technology helps with customer-centricity
The decreasing cost to reach consumers through video
Today’s technology enables you to capture hundreds of videos from your target audience in minutes. It can be used as an agile qualitative tool or within quantitative research. So whether you want to utilize video in a new or existing study, collect videos alongside, within or after a survey, or capture content online or offline, it’s a quick and simple way to bring a human voice to your data.
Once your videos have been captured and uploaded to a video insight platform like Voxpopme, they will be instantly transcribed, checked for quality and time coded so you can quickly find the responses you need. Advanced tools like automated thematic analysis will also organize your content by keywords and phrases to make it easier than ever before to analyze.
In addition, sentiment analysis is also available to help you categorize video content by positive, negative and neutral feelings so you can understand the sentiment behind every single sentence in every response. Once your videos have been analyzed, you can select, customize and share your most powerful customer stories in short showreels that bring the voice of younger generations into the boardroom.
Read next: Getting leadership support — and keeping it — for internal market research
Conclusion
To reach younger consumers meet them where they are. Often that’s on their phones. Many times it’s communicating through video. Why not ask them to give you feedback that same way?
